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1976 Topps Walter Payton vs. 1986 Topps Jerry Rice
JimMeant
Posts: 341 ✭✭✭
I’ve been SLOWLY crossing some cards off my want list and picking up some cards for my PC over the last few years.
I have a chance to buy another big card and I’m going back & forth over a really nice Walter Payton RC or a high end Jerry Rice RC to purchase.
Assuming both cards are really well centered with nice surfaces and color, which would most collectors prefer?
1976 Topps Walter Payton PSA 8
OR
1986 Topps Jerry Rice PSA 8.5
Somewhat similar price points, so I’m curious which card most collectors would prefer to add to their own PC.
-Collecting anything vintage
0
Comments
Payton.
Sweetness. All day long.
Payton
Sweetness, yup.
Payton.
Payton
Payton for sure... I'd also look at higher graded SGCs with a similar price point.
Both are great cards, but Payton would be my choice for you.
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I'll go Rice, more upside maybe
No question. Payton.
Sir Walter for sure!!!
Payton. Without checking the pop reports probably in his favor.
Love Jerry Rice, but I would also go Payton.
equal greatness !
Payton
If Rice was 9 then I'd have to give it serious thought
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
Payton. To even ask this question you will
be denied Secret Handshake privileges.
Jerry Rice has so many more TDs than 2nd place. Walter is not 1st in any category. Get the GOAT.
Sentiment favors Walter. Statistics favor Jerry. Tough choice. Buy them both? But if have to choose, ever so slight edge to Jerry with the 1/2 grade edge.
The kid in me says Payton but the more logical adult in me says Rice.
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I'd go with the Payton.
Aesthetically, Walter has a way prettier card. And wenever I see that "Man of the Year" silhouette on the back of a player's helmet, I get the chills. I don't think there is a wrong choice. I like the advice above - buy both.
I just love the 76 set. Topps did their best work of the decade for baseball and football with the 76s. Both are my favorites of the 70s.
Payton. Look how constant 1986 wax boxes are for sale. Not drying up in our lifetime I think.
Payton
1976 Payton: 12,943 total graded
PSA 8 Payton: 2,996 (23% of pop)
PSA 8.5: 148
PSA 9: 726
PSA 10: 54
Pop Higher: 928 (7.2% of pop)
1986 Rice: 33,330 total graded
PSA 8.5: 521 (1.5% of pop)
PSA 9: 1,083
PSA 10: 62
Pop Higher: 1,145 (3.4% of pop)
Based on the numbers, the Jerry Rice PSA 8.5 is a tougher high grade. If the percentages were closer, I'd go with the Payton but with only 4.9% of the 1986 Topps Jerry Rice PSA graded cards rated at 8.5 or better, that's my choice.
From a football nerd point of view, RBs like Payton (Barry and Emmitt) will be rare going forward. The passing game is wide open now, I think the modern WRs may end up eclipsing the stats of Rice and other retired WRs. Based on today's game, I don't see to many modern RBs making a run at the legends.
Payton.
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Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
Rice is my favorite player ever. Sweetness is my #2. But you gotta go with the Payton.
If it was a Rice 9, I might change my answer.
Good Lord, the centering on that Payton looks really good. Must be tempting to open...lol
wow!! just wow!!
Nice work. I am statistics kind of guy.
Good luck! IMHO the 1986 Topps Football is the toughest in all of Football to get grades higher than PSA 8. And getting a pack fresh Rice to grade above a PSA 8 is even harder. Roughly 10 years ago I tried and tried and could not get a single one to grade higher than a PSA 8. I eventually gave up.
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I agree with this.
Even though Walter is my GOAT running back, I would rather have the Rice.
That's one of the coolest racks I've ever seen. Very nice.
Coolest, but not the biggest. LOL!!
I flipped a Bruce smith psa 8 to sgc 9. I didn't see anything wrong with it. Centering perfect, corners looked great. Personally not sure why its not a 10 unless it just can't be.
I just went through 5000 pack fresh 1986 Topps football cards. They are difficult, aside from the basic things to look for like centering, corners and edges, the cardboard quality and print defects abound. Snow and ink smudges are a problem.
Probably a print smudge of some type. Sometimes I think they hit the cards with cardboard fibers on the back that stand out too much.
Patriot, how many Rice's did you hit out of 5,000? If you decide to get them graded please keep me posted on your grading results.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
Centering doesn't seem to count for much anymore. Still scratching my head on this freshly graded one.
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase/2819
The PSA 6 payton looks like a 9 or 10.
Yeah. That is ridiculous. Unless that thing has Rick Leach on the back that should be a 9/10. No question.
At least an 8! I am so glad I haven't subbed in years, that would have killed me!
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
(I realize one reason for not both would be finances, and that's understandable. You could always buy one now, though, save up over the course of a year, and then buy the other one, just sayin')
From an investment perspective, there would seem to be more upside with Rice at 8.5...
Erik
Centering is done by AI and it's a calculable, so that's not the reason.
Gotta be something else.
On the front, the are some fisheyes, corner touch, and edge chipping(?), so not a 10.
The color registration is off with the green and yellow on the 'Walter Payton'.
(I got dinged on some "perfect" cards I subbed, and I can only think that was the reason)
On the back, is the back corner showing separation?
6 seems pretty harsh. At least a 7 or 8 seems more in line, unless there's a surface issue not apparent.
That Payton probably would have been an 8 (PD) with the unfortunate registration issue (yellow/green), but as NQ, that means the 8Q card becomes a 6 NQ (Q's are -2 according to registry scoring). The corner on the back is presumably the reason that it would have been an 8Q as opposed to a 9Q. Maybe it ended up a 6 instead of a 6.5 because the only half-grade that is allowed to have a qualifier is 1.5, and the grading deducted/corrected to NQ after assigning it an 8Q rather than a 9Q not because 8Q more accurately represented it than an 8.5Q, but because 8.5Q is not a thing that exists? All that said, I think it means that I could see the card getting a 0.5 bump if reviewed?
I have both. Being a Bears fan, I'd say go with Payton knowing that you will eventually get Rice. I've always liked the 49ers too going all the way back to John Brodie and Gene Washington. Here are mine.
I looked at a couple of higher graded Payton's on eBay, they had the same color "separation" on his name.
After seeing that Rice 8 does anyone actually own a PSA 9 or 10 Rice rookie? I would guess the PSA 10 is actually a unicorn and not one member on this forum actually owns one.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.